Sir, – Finn McRedmond’s piece on the Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre rejuvenation campaign “(Stephen’s Green Centre is grotty and schmaltzy,” May 7th) is unpersuasive and unthorough.
She claims the 24,000 of us who appealed the decision to partly demolish the shopping centre in order to add “office space, a brick facade and three levels of shop” are being too “reactionary”, and that we’re blocking a necessary bit of social progress by our apparently Tory-like “allergy” to change.
That she confuses a simple landmark-nostalgia for a recalcitrant political conservatism is both ludicrous and wrong.
Her strife seems to centre on the building’s grubby interior, aged bathrooms and ancient shops. She says it should change and I agree: change the awful interior then.
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Please explain to me, however, why this automatically means demolishing the building’s facade? For this, she claims the building lacks “good taste” and simultaneously attacks and misconstrues claims in defence of its character.
“The building is characterful, sure – though that is often a euphemism for ugly.” Here, she misses the whole point. She considers its dome a “bulbous protrusion”, but at least it is our bulbous protrusion.
Like the eyesore that is Terminal 1 Arrivals, I am still thrilled every time I see it, because I know it means home. A bit smelly, sure, but still home.
The reason Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre has character is because it stands out. It is the black sheep – the non-follower in this time of ephemeral fads and Tik-Tok trends. It is a symbol of uniqueness against the very designs exemplified by such bland proposals
Show me something a little less beige and boring and I’ll reconsider. The Parisians were brave enough to put glass pyramids in front of the Louvre. If you’re not willing to be daring, fine: gut out the interior and cram as many Starbucks and vacant office units in there as you like.
For now, though, I – and 24,000 others – are content to let Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre shine on like the crazy diamond it is. – Yours, etc,
CONOR KILLIAN,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – Finn McRedmond’s article was pretty much on the ball.
I always thought the incumbent building was temporary – like a prefab waiting for an inspired replacement.
Not that the proposed replacement is very appealing. Both are nonevents.
Try again please. – Yours, etc,
CLIVE CARROLL,
Old Cabra Road,
Dublin 7.
Sir,- I agree with Finn McRedmond, Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre is indeed grotty, schmaltzy and twee and I would be happy to see it gone.
However, I remain unimpressed by the soft brutalism of the alternative design proposal.
My own proposal would be to restore the character of that site as it was before the awful suburban conservatory landed there in the late 1980s. Bring back Rice’s pub, the Stephen’s Green Cinema and the Dandelion market.
I’m sure there would be plenty of space remaining for adjacent housing, and that the overall effect would bear a greater resemblance to a vibrant, living city than its current, or proposed, iterations. – Yours etc,
NIALL SHANAHAN,
Inchicore,
Dublin 8
